Updates (KB 2836939 and ...40) won't update

Vista 64 bit. The problem children are .NET updates, and a couple of years ago I couldn't get a .NET update to load. Eventually the computer quit nagging me about it. Now I am prompted to run Windows Update for these two items every time I shut down, and the screen messages say they have been run. Today I ran FIXIT, which said it solved some problems, but apparently not the ones I needed to solve.

I found a post on the lounge that suggested a prior user delete and re-install the .NET framework, but the wordpress article it pointed to was 2003, so I don't know whether to try it.